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Week 2 in the SEC didn’t see any big surprises. Maybe a minor surprise for those who thought Georgia would leave South Bend with a loss (ahem), but other than than the league pretty much held to form, much to the relief of Texas A&M fans who saw their team struggle with FCS foe Nicholls State.
Auburn was not be punished much in the polls, and not at all here, for losing at defending national champion Clemson. This will come as a relief for Jarrett Stidham, who took enough punishment Saturday night.
Some shakeups took place outside the SEC, with Oklahoma registering a signature victory at Ohio State and moving up out of the projected matchup with Alabama in the College Football Playoff semifinal at the Sugar Bowl (instead securing a Rose Bowl berth in the other semi).
The Crimson Tide are now projected to face Penn State in a renewal of a cross-sectional 1980s rivalry that was revived with meetings in 2010 and 2011. Of course older Bama fans will recall with reverence the 1979 Sugar Bowl showdown between the teams (hello, Barry Krauss). And LSU moves up to become the highest-ranked team eligible for the Orange Bowl, so that’s the new home for the Tigers.
Remember, the season is a marathon, so this is not a reflection of how teams stand now but how they are projected to stand at the end of the season.
Texas A&M and Arkansas are still in despite shaky performances and Missouri … well, I didn’t think the Tigers would beat South Carolina anyway, so yeah, sure. For now.
Longtime newspaper veteran Jim Tomlin is a copy editor and writer with SaturdayDownSouth.com.
